Expanding the Mediational Model of the Effects of Health-Related Social Control

Tucker, Orlando, Elliott, and Klein (2006 ) proposed that the associations between social control attempts and health behaviors are mediated by affects. The evidence is mixed regarding whether affects fully mediate these associations. In a sample of 317 college students involved in heterosexual dating relationships, we tested Tucker's mediational model and an expanded mediational model that incorporated the action readiness component of emotions (motivation to change and reactance). Full mediation of the associations between (a) positive social control and health behavior change; and (b) negative social control and hiding unhealthy behavior were found only when motivation to change and reactance were included in the model. Unexpectedly, reactance and negative social control exerted direct effects on health behavior change.     

Parenting Practices and Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: Moderating Effects of Socially Demanding Kin Relations

Association of socially demanding kin relations, mother’s emotional support, behavioral control/monitoring, family organization and psychological control with adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing problems were assessed in 200 economically disadvantaged, African American mothers and adolescents. Demanding kin relations and mother’s psychological control were positively associated with adolescent’s internalizing problems. Demanding kin relations also moderated the association of control/monitoring, family organization, and psychological control, with internalizing. For mothers with more demanding kin relations, increased control/monitoring was associated with increased adolescent internalizing. In comparison, increased control/monitoring was associated with decreased adolescent internalizing for mothers with less demanding kin relations. Negative association of family organization with internalizing was more apparent for mothers with more compared to less demanding kin relations. Positive association of mother’s psychological control with internalizing was more apparent for mothers with more compared to less socially demanding kin relations. Demanding kin relations and mother’s psychological control were positively associated with adolescent’s externalizing problems. Mother’s emotional support and family organization were negatively associated with externalizing. Also, negative association of family organization with externalizing was more apparent for families with more compared to less demanding kin relations. The need for research on the factors associated with negative relation with kin was discussed.     

Racial Microaggressions and the Filipino American Experience: Recommendations for Counseling and Development

Racial microaggressions are subtle forms of verbal and behavioral discrimination toward people of color. The current qualitative study explores the experiences of Filipino American participants (N= 12), who described 13 categories of microaggressions, including being treated as an alien in one's own land or as a 2nd‐class citizen, being presumed to have inferior status or intellect, being assumed to uphold Filipino stereotypes, or being mistaken for another identity. Recommendations for counseling and development are discussed. Las microagresiones raciales son formas sutiles de discriminación verbal y conductiva hacia las personas de color. El estudio actual cualitativo explora las experiencias de participantes Filipinoamericanos (N= 12), quienes describieron 13 categorías de microagresiones, incluido el ser tratados como extranjeros o como ciudadanos de segunda clase en su propio país, pertenecer presuntamente a una clase social inferior o tener un nivel intelectual inferior, ser presuntamente representantes de estereotipos Filipinos, o ser confundidos con individuos de otra identidad. Se discuten recomendaciones para la consejería y el desarrollo.     

Two-year outcome of internet-based relapse prevention for partially remitted depression

The objective of the study was to investigate the long-term effects of internet-based relapse prevention for sufferers of partially remitted depression. Eighty-four individuals with partially remitted unipolar depression were randomized to either internet-based CBT (iCBT) or to a control group. After the ten week intervention period the participants were followed for 24 months and diagnostic interviews conducted to detect relapse. The intervention and monthly self-ratings of depressive symptoms were administered via an internet-based platform that ensured secure communication with all participants. Significantly fewer participants in the iCBT group had experienced a relapse compared with those in the control group two years after the internet-based intervention. The relapse rate in the iCBT group was 13.7% (CI 95% = 2.5–24.9) and in the control group it was 60.9% (CI 95% = 44.8–77). Furthermore, a significantly larger proportion of the iCBT group experienced remission two years after the intervention compared with the control group. Internet-based CBT seems promising for preventing relapse in sufferers of partially remitted depression.     

Mind Perception and Individual Differences: A Replication and Extension

Mind perception involves attributing higher functional abilities to others (e.g., saying a dog feels pain). The relationships between mind perception and psychopathology—autism, psychopathy, and schizotypy—have been revealed by K. Gray, Jenkins, Heberlein, and Wegner (2011 Gray, K., Jenkins, A. C., Heberlein, A. S., &; Wegner, D. M. (2011). Distortions of mind perception in psychopathology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 477–479. doi:10.1073/pnas.1015493108[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]); however, mind perception has yet to be correlated with personality. Participants (N = 180) completed measures of personality, psychopathology, and mind perception. The psychopathology results were consistent with Gray et al. (2011 Gray, K., Jenkins, A. C., Heberlein, A. S., &; Wegner, D. M. (2011). Distortions of mind perception in psychopathology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 477–479. doi:10.1073/pnas.1015493108[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The Big Five captured mind perception virtually as much as the three psychopathologies captured mind perception. Mind perception is not solely relevant to psychopathology; it is also relevant to everyday personality.     

Social anxiety and emotion regulation flexibility: considering emotion intensity and type as contextual factors

Background and objectives: Individuals with social anxiety disorder have often been considered inflexible in their emotion regulation. The aim of this study was to investigate emotion regulation flexibility in socially anxious individuals in response to two contextual factors, namely different levels of emotion intensity and emotion type.

Methods: A daily diary approach was employed, investigating emotion regulation (i.e., experiential avoidance, expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) in college students scoring high (N?=?62; HSA) and low (N?=?52; LSA) on social anxiety.

Results: Results revealed that HSAs were found to use more experiential avoidance than LSAs, especially at higher levels of negative intensity. The use of this emotion regulation strategy appeared to be driven by guilt, nervousness, and sadness. There were no between-group differences concerning the other strategies in response to varying levels of emotional intensity.

Conclusions: Together, the results provide evidence for inflexible emotion regulation in HSAs, reflected in an unwillingness to experience negative emotions.     

African American Single Mothers and Children in Context: A Review of Studies on Risk and Resilience

This paper presents a comprehensive review of research linking single-parent family structure to parenting processes, maternal well-being, and child developmental outcomes among African Americans. The approaches used to study these families, related methodological and conceptual concerns, and the factors linked to maternal well-being, effective parenting processes, family functioning, and child outcomes are addressed. Much work remains to be done on conceptualizing and assessing parenting processes among African Americans in general and single African American mothers in particular. Researchers must examine more carefully the circumstances that foster or impede successful parenting among these mothers. Studies also are needed to disentangle the interactions between economic stress and parenting behavior and to determine the extent to which the findings can be applied to middle-income single African American parents.     

Ingroup vitality and intergroup attitudes in a linguistic minority

In this study we argue that predictions of the impact of group status, status stability and status legitimacy on intergroup attitudes can be refined using the subjective perceptions of various dimensions of ingroup vitality. We tested the main and moderating effects of perceived present, future and the legitimacy of present ingroup vitality and perceived discrimination on intergroup attitudes in a nation-wide probability sample (N= 1,411) of Swedish-speaking Finns, controlling for ingroup identification. We found that those who perceived the legitimacy of present ingroup vitality to be low had more negative intergroup attitudes than those who perceived the legitimacy to be high. Perceived present and future ingroup vitality had no main effects on the dependent variable. Instead, perceived future ingroup vitality moderated the effect of perceived discrimination on intergroup attitudes. In addition, the perceived legitimacy of present ingroup vitality mediated the effect of perceived present ingroup vitality on intergroup attitudes.